Master of Badalona

This anonymous painter from the early 1400s made religious scenes in tempera, a paint mixed with egg yolk that dries fast and looks flat. The Altarpiece of Saint John the Baptist and Saint Stephen shows two saints side by side, stiff in posture and bright in color. Their halos glow like metal plates, and the gold-leaf background marks the International Gothic style, common before the Renaissance.

Tap the altarpiece to see how the artist layered delicate patterns and quiet gold across the wooden panels.